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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: march · tube · drill · clip · lie · bay · last · wind

  1. Today is the ________________ day of the holidays. Back to school tomorrow!
  2. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  3. I want a large ________________ of toothpaste.
  4. I'll be taking the ________________.
  5. It was raining hard, and to make things worse, the ________________ was beginning to rise.
  6. I need a new inner ________________ for my bike tire.
  7. False peace will not ________________.
  8. The strong ________________ blew his hat off.
  9. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  10. My mare is ________________ in color.
  11. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  12. He sold his goods at a loss to ________________ up his business.
  13. The hunter does not ________________ down with the prey.
  14. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  15. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  18. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  19. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  20. Is it always a sin to tell a ________________?
  21. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  22. At ________________, we arrived at the village.
  23. A ________________ is a veil over the lips.
  24. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. last — final
  2. bay — to keep at bay
  3. tube — a container
  4. tube — the underground
  5. wind — moving air
  6. tube — in a tire
  7. last — to go on
  8. wind — moving air
  9. drill — a practice
  10. bay — a horse colour
  11. clip — to cut
  12. wind — to turn a key
  13. lie — to recline
  14. clip — a video
  15. march — music
  16. drill — the tool
  17. march — the month
  18. drill — army training
  19. clip — for paper
  20. lie — an untruth
  21. march — the month
  22. last — finally
  23. lie — an untruth
  24. bay — a part of the sea

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com